Gov. Walker Publishes a Law Ignoring the Courts and the Sec. of State

Just in case you didn't understand the definition of 'hubris,' this is it. The Legislative Reference Bureau published the collective bargaining law, ignoring  a court order against its publication and the Secretary of State's restraining order.

The Governor and the Republican Party of the State of Wisconsin have no officially voided the right to call themselves the law and order party as they have now ignored a lawful court order, a court order issued by a sitting judge on a pending case in accordance with Section 813.02 of the Wisconsin Statues. During the negotiation and passage this law, the Republicans voided the right to call themselves the party of the Constitution and respect for the institution of the Government of the State.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online, the reference bureau published the law with a footnote acknowledging the court order, but insisting that the law says that all new legislation must be published within 10 days of passage.

The issue is that a law in Wisconsin does not take effect until it is published. Therefore, now that it has been published, cities and counties that have been renegotiating contracts with its public workers have had the ability to do so yanked out from under them.

This is just another example of how the new Republican majority in the Legislature and the Governor are ignoring the law and the courts. During the passage of the law, the Republicans used sleazy parliamentary tactics to pass the law. A late night, 43 second vote on the law in the Assembly, the "emergency" meeting of Senators that separated the collective bargaining part of the law, then passage of that part without the Democratic Senators present.

This is a reprehensible and cowardly act not worthy of the party of Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan. These are the tactics of a fringe group that knows that without snake-like tactics, it will be found out for the radical, out of control minority that it is.

"Today the administration was notified that the LRB published the budget-repair bill as required by law," said a statement from Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch. "The administration will carry out the law as required." from the above referenced article.

 Secretary Huebsch states it as if the administration didn't know anything about the publication.

813.02 Temporary injunction; when granted. (1) (a)
When it appears from a party’s pleading that the party is entitled
to judgment and any part thereof consists in restraining some act,
the commission or continuance of which during the litigation
would injure the party, or when during the litigation it shall appear
that a party is doing or threatens or is about to do, or is procuring
or suffering some act to be done in violation of the rights of
another party and tending to render the judgment ineffectual, a
temporary injunction may be granted to restrain such act.

This is the state law that governs injunctions. There can and should be punitive damages assessed on the state by the court for ignoring this injunction.

The spirits of Lincoln and Reagan are dead and the New Republican Party has shown that they have no respect for the court system, the law, or gentlemanly conduct. 

Scott Walker on Hannity - An Offer You Can Laugh At!

Governor Walker called into the Sean Hannity Show this afternoon. "The Governor for all of the people in this State of Wisconsin" is playing politics on national radio.

He praised the "courageous" Republican Senators who are the subject of recall petitions in the state. I think one needs to analyze the word "courageous" in this context. The Fond du Lac, WI officers (and police dog) shot in the line of duty this weekend were courageous. Men and women in uniform fighting for their country are courageous. Protesters throughout the Middle East who are challenging dictatorial governments.

It is not courageous to use an shady, obscure parliamentary procedure to split out part of bill. It is not courageous to pass that bill through without any serious debate on provisions that the majority of the state indicated it was against. It is not courageous to vote on a bill then run away under police escort.

Then Scotty "The Drama Queen" Walker goes on to complain (whine) about tactics used by the unions when they sent letters to employers threatening boycotts. He called it "tactics worthy of the Godfather." 'Let me make you an offer you can't refuse or... I won't buy your stuff." What Godfather is he talking about, Beaver Cleaver's godfather. Don Corleone has got to be rolling in his literary grave... with laughter.

To Hannity's discredit, he bought it hook, line and sinker. He is putting the Governor's new website where he pitched a request for money to help the Senatorial robots with the recall votes, that do not yet exist, created by the petitions that have not be submitted. (Anyone else see a campaign war chest being built on momentary hysteria?) At no point, did either of these Tea Party drama queens mention that eight Democrats are also having petitions circulated to try to recall them.

Here is the upshot:

• People are courageous when they do what everyone around them is doing and it appears politically necessary.
• Send Scotty "The Drama Queen" money so he can fight recalls that don't exist, yet. (And may not if there are not enough signatures.)
• Boycotting businesses because your disagree with their policies is a mafia tactic worthy of Don Corleone and the Cosa Nostra.
• Whining on national radio is the new way to beg sympathy for your idiotic, overbearing political decisions.

A letter to the Guv!

Dear Governor Walker,

Please keep calling national radio shows and dramatizing what is going on in Wisconsin. Since the McCain campaign fell apart, we haven't actually had a politician we can laugh at when they act like the sky is falling because someone says boo!

Thank you.

One Wisconsin Citizen/Blogger

Perspective: Earthquakes in Japan and Madison

Over the last four weeks, we here in Wisconsin have been consumed with the events in Madison. A Governor who is stripping union privileges from state workers, Senators on the run and a populous bitterly divided and fighting amongst themselves over political issues.



USGS map showing the ground shake this morning.

 Then, this morning, off the coast of Honshu, Japan, a massive earthquake struck. Estimates of the dead are just coming in and the videos of the quake(s) (there have been dozens in the last few days) are terrifying even form this distance.

Christchurch, New Zealand and Queensland, Australia and hundreds of other places in the world are battling the planet itself. Then of course there are true political battles. Libyans are dying for freedom, Egypt is still looking for its new identity, and Tunisia, where it all started, is giving all that it has to help the Libyans who are coming over their border.

Maybe, when we argue about these things that are important in our lives, we can bear this in mind. Before we look at our neighbor or brother or co-worker, we should look at the ground and say, "I stand on solid ground, the same ground you share. For that, I respect you. Now, let's talk."

Peace in the United States is rarely broken. On a September morning, almost 10 years ago, 3,000 people died in a horrible attack. We rightfully cried. We were outraged. We still wince at the thought. There are and should be mourned.

As a matter of perspective, approximately 19,629 people have died in Afghanistan and 900,338 in Iraq since 2001. * Each person was someone's child, father, sister, brother, lover. Not all of them were innocent, but I guarantee, most of them were! 

I know the I will continue to write about the politics of our state and country. I know that at times I will lose my perspective. I also hope that in the end, I will remember what is really important: the love of family and friends and dying with the knowledge that I left the world a happier, nicer place.

Here's One to Watch: AJR 8: Power to the Governor?

Assembly Joint Resolution 8 Has Potential for Power Grab

Allows Declaration of Emergency that might be Questionable

Article IV, Section 34 of the Wisconsin Constitution  allows for the 'continuity of government' in case of enemy attack. This resolution proposed by the Assembly would modify the language to allow for natural or man-made disasters of emergencies.

"[Article IV] Section 34. The legislature, in order to ensure continuity
of state and local governmental operations in periods of emergency
resulting from enemy action in the form of an attack a severe or prolonged,
natural or human−caused, occurrence that threatens life, health, or the
security of the state, shall (1) forthwith provide for prompt and temporary
succession to the powers and duties of public offices, of whatever nature
and whether filled by election or appointment, the incumbents of which
may become unavailable for carrying on the powers and duties of such
offices, and (2) adopt such other measures as may be necessary and proper
for attaining the objectives of this section." AJR-8

Obviously, I am not a Constitutional lawyer but this change seems to open a gateway for the declaration of emergencies that might allow for the replacement of elected officials, a declaration of a state of emergency or Lord knows what else.

The language leaves some significant questions unanswered:

• Who decides what is severe or prolonged?
• What is meant by threatening life, health or security of the state?
• Which of the powers enacted in the rest of the Constitution will be activated under the continuity of government clause, such as the militia clause, Section 29?

Just last night, hundreds of protesters stormed into the Capital building and set into occupation. For four weeks, there have been thousands of protesters in and around the Capital. If this clause had been in place, would Governor Walker have been able to declare this an "occurrence" that warranted the activation of this clause? Could he have used it to replace the Democratic Senators, as their actions and those of their supporters might constitute a threat to the "security of the state?"

Before this goes to a vote of the people, many of whom are ready to cede power to the ruling Republican majority, these questions need to be answered.

Scott Walker's Latest "Not My Fault": The Emails

The New Smartest Guys 
in the Room?

Lest anyone think that tonight's actions by the Senate happened in a vacuum, a close reading of the emails between the Governor's staff and the Senate Democrats shows how calculated this move has been.

By releasing these emails, the governor can point to all of the effort he and his staff went to to compromise with the rogue Democrats.

However (you knew there had to be a however), the emails show little or no effort to actually change anything. From March 3 to March 8, the actual terms that the Governor's office is willing to compromise on don't actually change much.

March 3:

• Remove CPI clause
• Length of collective bargaining agreemnts
• Time frame for initial ceritification of collective bargaining agreements
• A change in the definition of 'workplace safety'
• Guidlines for changes to the Medical Assistance program

March 8:

• Remove CPI clause
• Allow some economic issues to be negotiated, none of them responsive to the Democrats emails and requests
• A change in the definition of 'workplace safety'
• Time frame for initial ceritification of collecitve bargaining agreemnts
• Length of collective bargaining agreements
• Guidelines for changes to the Medical Assistance program
• Allow collective bargaining for UW Hospital Clinics Authority (this was an item recommended by the Joint Fiscal Committee before the email exchange)

Another item worth noting is that it seems that the emails from the Governor's office are in response to a complete different conversation. The Democrats write that they would like "X" and the governor responds with "blue."

There must be missing emails. There appears to be a great deal of missing conversation here. In the five days covered by these emails, there seem to be gaps in the progression of the conversation. In particular, there is a great deal of activity on the 3rd, one from the 6th and then the 8th. It seems odd that there are no emails in between. In fact, the first email from the Democrats to the Governor's office was written on February 28th with no recorded response until the 3rd of March. With something this controversial and important, one would expect a quicker response.

The most important thing to note about the emails and their very well-timed release is that Governor Walker can now say, "Well, I tried. Look at these emails... I really tried." 

This action and the related actions in the Assembly will be the focus of the recall votes and future elections.

Ronald Reagan and Scott Walker

Ronald Reagan on the importance of political compromise(in his own words)
An American Life (his autobiography) | 8/7/03 | Ronald Reagan

Posted on 08/07/2003 2:05:04 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
"When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it.
"Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything.
"I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'
"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.  http://goo.gl/Lu3XZ

Scott Walker is not a Reagan Republican.

Walker, Republicans Bypass Dems and Bully the System

Well, they did it.

Scott Walker and the Republicans in the Senate have stripped away all of bargaining rights of public workers, without the Democrats being in the chamber.

In a sleaze tactic more worthy of Stalinist Russia than a broad-shouldered Mid-Western state, the Republicans separated out the collective bargaining clauses of the "budget repair bill," held a private meeting to discuss the bill, called the Senate into session and passed this newly chopped up bill.

After weeks of protests, wrangling and millions of dollars spent on trying to sway elected officials, the Republican majority in the Senate simply ignored the spirit of the Wisconsin Constitution and rammed through the most contentious part of this bill.

So what does it mean?

A. We are in a new era of politics where the majority party will ramrod anything through without regard to public sentiment or respect for the body they have been honored with.

B. Politically motivated bills will be passed at all costs. In this case, most probably the careers of the Senators who passed this bill.

C. Legal loopholes should and will become the target of the majority party's ire. Getting loopholes like this one and the "anonymous filibuster" in the US Senate closed should become American priority one.

Our elected officials are elected from different parties so that they can find a middle path in the differing philosophies of our nation. This act makes it clear that there will be no tolerance for that in Scott Walker's Wisconsin.

Repost: Wispolitics.com - Budget Blog

Paycheck mailed to Erpenbach

With the paychecks for Senate Democrats cut off until they return from their boycott, Sen. Jon Erpenbach got creative.

Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, appointed two of his staff members his power of attorney, which would allow them to collect his pay.

On Feb. 22, GOP leaders voted to require members pick up their paychecks in person on the Senate floor.

Erpenbach, who like his 13 Dem colleagues fled the state to stall a vote on the budget repair bill, is in Chicago.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald put the check in the mail instead of turning it over to the staffers.

"We confirmed with our attorneys and with the chief clerk that was proper," said Fitzgerald spokesman Andrew Welhouse.

-- By Greg Bump

Thanks to Wispolitics.com for this article

How Does It Really Compare?: Local Gov't. Wages v. Service Industry

In reading through the Governor's budget, I began to think: What percentage do other similar businesses pay for labor?

The business that came to mind was a hospital. They have a large labor force, don't actually make anything and provide a service with minimal materials.

Here's how they stack up:

From page 38 of the Governor's budget:

From "Trends in the Use of Contract Labor in Hospital" by American Hospital Directory, Inc:

The winner is LOCAL GOVERNMENT! Local government pays 43%, hospitals pay 52.4%! Apparently we are getting a deal! And, oh yeah, hospitals are mostly profitable.

Unfinished Business is the Linchpin to Gov. Walker's Budget

During his address to a joint session of the State Legislature, Governor Scott Walker repeated several times that the "tools" provided by the Budget Repair Bill will be necessary for local governments to balance out the cuts proposed in his biennial budget.

The problem is that the Budget Repair Bill has not passed and soon will be a moot point.

According to Governor Walker, the changes to collective bargaining provided by the Budget Repair Bill would allow local governments to not only compensate for the cuts in state aid, but allow them a surplus that they can apply to other parts of our childrens' education.

At the same time, he proposes freeing the UW Madison and UW Milwaukee from the constraints of answering to the state. He also proposes the creation of charter schools all over the state and parents' choice in the Milwaukee area as well.

In this one man's opinion today, that is a lot to promise while cutting the budget significantly.

It remains to read in the budget what parts will work and which ones won't.

Scott Walker is a Socialist (in Reverse)

"Typically, socialism is concerned with both the social and economic system in a country. Property and wealth are shared, and their distribution are subject to the control of the people, who exert equal control of the government. The community or state owns all the things used for work production, called the means of production, and thus may also decide what is produced and how to distribute as evenly as possible the moneys paid for things produced."  Link here.

Governor Scott Walker is a reverse socialist. Socialism can be denied as taking from the status quo (right now, in America, the rich) and giving to everyone. It involves leveling the playing field, using the community resources for the entire community. What Gov. Walker and the new far-right of the Republican party want to do is take from those who have fought for, bargained for, or asked for and been given and bring them down to 'the rest of us.'

The collective bargaining agreement that was made between the State of Wisconsin and its public workers unions were negotiated agreements. It was an agreement, signed and certified. Governor Walker simply wants to take away their gains.

He is like a kid in high school who comes home from school complaining that everyone else has a car. Rather than working for his own car (dealing with a public sector job where you are vilified), negotiating his own price (collective bargaining) and pay his own auto loan ($100,000+ in education loans for a $25,000 a year job), Scotty wants to slash the tires on everyone else's car.

There is a simple solution to the idea that the public workers get too much through their collective bargaining, join a union. If everyone made as much as (people claim) public sector workers make, then we would be able to eliminate the deficit through an increase in tax revenues.

The next argument is that this would be bad for business. A couple of things to note: 1) In a down economy, thousands of companies are posting record profits (including Walker's paymasters, the Koch Brothers). 2) Most of the world is unionized (and the parts that aren't are starting to - notice the workers' rights movements in China and India).

By Governor Walker's logic, the next bill will be to restrict Wisconsin wages to $2,200 a year, the average wage in Shanghai in 2009. We must be competitive after all.

The American Way is not to take from those who have so they don't have any more. It is to try to give more opportunity to earn to everyone.

Isn't that the American Dream, the hope of every Horatio Alger, Jr. reader?

The sneaky part of this movement by the governor and other far-right Republicans is that the want to do it the old-fashioned way, on the backs of the working man and woman. Any student of history knows that that is how most of the great wealth was made in America prior to the idyllic 1950's (when America had the highest percentage of unionized workers).

Stay tuned for an observation of the abuses of the unions and where they went wrong.



Really? Welcome to the New Face of American Governance

In a body notorious for taking forever to get anything done, the Republican controlled Assembly in the Great State of Wisconsin set a new national record for passage of a bill. From calling for the vote to adjourning the assembly the entire episode takes 44 seconds.

Apparently, somebody, I don't know who, is looking at whether this is legal. Whatever they decide, this is not moral.

A quick note to the Republican officials of Wisconsin:

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

The actions of the Wisconsin Assembly were morally reprehensible. Similar to the attempt on the 18th of February to pass this same bill without the minority party even in the room, this action shows a deperation to avoid debate and compromise.

Please note: You, as the Republican Party in Wisconsin, have no officially vacated the moral high ground. These actions are cowardly and immature. Worse, what you did was a blot on the Great State of Wisconsin and the kind, considerate folks of this state. Any action like this from your opponents would be equally disgusting.

America is nation founded by people with opposing views. It was their constant conversation and compromise that made this the greatest govermental experiment of all time. Your actions last night at 1:00 am was patently un-American.

Sincerely yours,

Bob Peryea
One American who Believes We Must Live by a Higher Standard

Dear Reader: Please watch this and consider that this is what our government is becoming.

Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill: Items a Reading

In the bill:

"16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b). "

No bids on multimillion dollar power and energy plants! Does this concern anyone else?

Is this truly fiscal responsibilityresponsiblity or is this cronyism to the Koch brothers and their energy company (Walker's 4th largest contributor)?